


Something to Think About

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [30]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Crossover, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 02:45:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7024090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Multiverse, John Sheppard, Why he became a teacher."</p><p>At a team meeting, Tyler asks a question Rodney's been meaning to ask.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something to Think About

Tyler had done well enough in school that he didn’t have to go to summer school, but John and Evan, who taught core classes, had to teach summer school. Cam had the summer off, and JD was starting summer classes at the university for his elementary education degree. Rodney frequently reminded everyone that he never had summers off.  
  
At Tyler’s monthly team meeting, which involved Fiona and Cassandra, all five of them, Tyler, and Tyler’s therapist Alex, Fiona asked the critical question:  
  
“How are we going to keep Tyler busy this summer?”  
  
“A job would be good,” Cam said. “He passed his classes well enough to not need summer school, so I think he deserves to go out and earn some money. What do you think?”  
  
Fiona nodded. “I think Tyler’s dedication to his grades demonstrates a level of responsibility adequate for holding a job.”  
  
Cassandra peered at Tyler. “Have you thought about what kind of job you might want? Granted, you’re inexperienced enough that you’ll pretty much have to take any job you can get, but if you start early enough before school gets out, you can get in ahead of the other kids looking for summer jobs. Not to mention, Fiona can help you get a paid internship or something. In something you care about.”  
  
Evan took notes at every meeting, because he was obsessive that way. Cassandra always took notes, too, clacking away at her sleek silver laptop. John suspected it was her own laptop, because Fiona’s government-issued laptop was a dinosaur, as was Alex’s.  
  
John glanced at Tyler. He was nibbling on his lower lip.  
  
“Um…”  
  
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Cassandra asked gently.  
  
“Well…” Tyler darted a glance at John, which surprised him. “Why did you become a teacher?”  
  
John blinked. “Me?”  
  
Tyler nodded.  
  
Across the table, Rodney leaned in, curious. “I’ve always wanted to know, too. Cam loves kids. Evan has nieces and nephews he grew up with. JD actually likes kids. But you never spent much time around your nieces.”  
  
“Well, I - I wanted to help people,” John said.  
  
“Soldiers help people,” Tyler pointed out. “Caseworkers help people. Even lawyers help people.” He cast a sly glance at Cassandra.  
  
She laughed. She made lawyer jokes all the time. The first time John had met her, he hadn’t thought she was a lawyer, as she’d been wearing jeans and a t-shirt and flip flops, looked like a nice lunch matron he’d had in boarding school. After having seen her in court, though, John knew she was probably one of the finest lawyers he’d ever meet.  
  
“I guess I wanted something different, after the Air Force,” he said. “I -” Didn’t want to keep seeing people dying.  
  
It was JD who said, “Being an officer is kind of like being a teacher, especially if you have to wrangle young, punk Marines.”  
  
Cam said, “You teach them everything you can, how to be good men and women, good soldiers. But in high school, you never have to worry about the moment when you’ll have to ask them to go out and die.”  
  
Evan squeezed his hand gently. No doubt he was thinking about Ritter and the other surveyors on his team who he’d lost.  
  
“I also really like math,” John offered, and the others laughed, breaking the tension that had built between them. “Everyone hates it, and I like a challenge. To see if I can’t get kids to like it as much as I do.”  
  
“No one will ever like math as much as you do,” Evan said wryly. “Except maybe Rodney and the way he plays prime/not prime with you.”  
  
“Okay,” Tyler said. “I don’t like math that much, but I do want to help people. I don’t think I could ever be a social worker or a lawyer. But...but I want to be a teacher.”  
  
“Could he be your teacher’s aide?” Cassandra asked. “On an internship basis rather than a credit basis.”  
  
“We’d have to talk to the counselors, but they could probably work something out,” John said. “Evan and I have classes, so if we wanted to make sure Tyler was working at least twenty hours a week, he could help both of us.”  
  
Fiona nodded. “Excellent. Let’s make that your assignment. Have it done by the next meeting.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” Cam said, and he sounded completely serious.  
  
“Alex,” Fiona said, “can we get a therapy update?”

John faded out after that, trusting the others to alert him if he was needed for something important. Tyler had been going to therapy for years and now went every other week, to work on managing his anxiety and depression. He was good about getting to his appointments on time thanks to his skateboard, and by all reports he was open and honest and engaged in the process. John could probably learn a thing or two from him about it. Evan was also down to therapy once every other week. Sometimes he and Tyler sat down and decompressed together after they came home from therapy feeling raw.  
  
After the meeting was over, Tyler stayed behind to have his check-in with Cassandra, and the others left the social services building to wait by the van. Once Tyler had enough money saved up, he could buy a car of his own, and Cam and JD would help him fix it up. John knew he’d been looking longingly at the shell of an old Mustang.  
  
“Hey,” Rodney said, “are you all right?”  
  
John smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m fine.”  
  
“Tyler’s question threw you for a loop.”  
  
“I just - I wanted to be a soldier to help people, and instead I just kept screwing up and watching them die. If these kids die, I didn’t ask them to, and I don’t have to go find their corpses.” John felt himself shaking.  
  
“Hey, hey.” Rodney crowded in close, curled his hands around John’s elbows and pulled him in. “You okay?”  
  
“Yeah, I -” John swallowed hard. Okay, maybe he wasn’t okay.  
  
Rodney kissed him softly, and John felt some of his shaking subside.  
  
“You know,” Rodney said, “maybe you should see somebody. Something to think about.”  
  
John nodded. “Yeah.”  
  
Tyler emerged from the building with a spring in his step, but he slowed when he saw them. “Is everything all right?”  
  
“Yeah,” Cam said. “Sometimes memories are a little rough.”  
  
Tyler bit his lip. “I’m sorry, John, I didn’t mean to upset you.”  
  
“You didn’t,” John said. “Cam’s right. Sometimes it’s just a little rough. Let’s go home, kid.”


End file.
